Page:Surprising adventures of Frederick Baron Trenck.pdf/3

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THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
FREDERICK BARON TRENCK.
——

I was born in the year 1726, at Koenigsberg, Prussia. My father, descended from an ancient family, was general of cavalry. He died in 1740, after having received eighteen wounds in the service of Prussia. My mother was daughter of the President of the Supreme Court of Koenigsberg; one of her brothers was Minister of State, and the two others generals of infantry. After my father’s death, she married Count Loftange, Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment of Cuirassiers of Kiow. I had two brothers and a sister. One of my brothers remained with my mother, the other was Cornet in the regiment of Kiow; and my sister married the only son of old General Waldow, and settled in Bradenburg.

My father sent me at the age of thirteen to the university of Koenigsberg, where I made a rapid progress in my education. At the end of 1740 I had a dispute with a gentleman named Wallenrod, who boarded in the same house. He was much (illegible text)r and stronger than me; and despising my weakness, thought proper to strike me. I demanded satisfaction, which he refusing contemptuously, (illegible text)ol a second, and attacked him in the open